Taylor Knibb Wins 70.3 World Championship for the Fourth Time

Taylor Knibb won the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France, on Saturday. She crossed the line in 4:19:24 to take her fourth world title at the distance. Knibb executed the perfect race, exiting the water among the leaders, breaking away from the field and putting six minutes between herself and second place on the bike climb, and finally hammering out a 1:17:56 half-marathon to break the tape. Second place went to Switzerland’s Julie Derron in a gutsy 4:23:30 performance, with her compatriot Alanis Siffert crossing the line in third in 4:25:10.

Sophie Evans Leads into T1

With defending 70.3 world champion Lucy Charles-Barclay of the U.K. not racing in Nice (she withdrew her name from the start list to focus on Kona), it gave someone else the chance to lead the swim on Saturday. That role fell to Charles-Barclay’s compatriot Sophie Evans.

After spending about half of the swim sitting back and letting other women lead, Evans moved to the front with a little over a quarter-mile to go. She hit the rocky beach in 25:49, but unlike Charles-Barclay last year (she led by close to a minute coming out of the water at the world championship), Evans was far from alone. Germany’s Lena Meissner was two seconds back, one second ahead of American Jenna Campbell.

By the time the lead women started the bike, the top 10 were within 25 seconds of one another. American Kirsten Kasper led that group onto the road. Included in the top 10 at that point were Knibb, France’s Audrey Merle and Siffert of Switzerland.

Spain’s Marta Sanchez was 33 seconds off the lead as she started the bike. A minute behind her was Swiss Olympic silver medallist Julie Derron and hometown favourite Marjolaine Pierré. Sitting 1:40 behind the leaders was reigning IRONMAN world champion Solveig Løvseth of Norway, 13 seconds ahead of two-time 70.3 worlds runner-up Kat Matthews of the U.K.

Knibb Dominates the Bike

It didn’t take long for Knibb to move through the field and into the lead group. By the three-mile checkpoint, she was in second place behind Switzerland’s Imogen Simmonds.

The opening six miles of the ride are flat. Once Knibb had bridged the gap to the front, she seemed content to hang out and wait for the climbing to begin before making her move. After the group hit the first hill, Knibb was off and on her own — and she remained solo for the rest of the ride.

Six miles after breaking away, Knibb was 1:43 clear of Siffert. Simmonds, Merle and Meissner weren’t too far behind, but after them, everyone else in the field was at least two minutes back of the three-time world champion. Another six miles up the road, Knibb’s lead had more than doubled. Siffert, Merle and Simmonds were hovering between 3:45 and four minutes behind.

At the halfway mark of the ride (at which point the long descent to T2 began), Knibb had a staggering seven-minute lead over that trio. Fifth-place Pierré was almost eight and a half minutes back. Matthews was riding close to 10 minutes off the lead with Derron, Løvseth and Sanchez.

It wasn’t a shock to anyone that Knibb was in the lead on the bike, but the size of the lead was surprising to many viewers. Former IRONMAN and 70.3 world champions Daniela Ryf and Mirinda Carfrae were on the commentary team, and they said that at one point in the climb Knibb was riding a whopping 30 seconds per kilometre faster than any other woman.

Coming into the race, many people said the descent was where Knibb’s rivals could potentially make up time. That turned out to be true, as Siffert and Simmonds both made up more than 45 seconds in the first seven or so miles of downhill riding. Merle had faded back a bit by then, sitting in fourth place and 7:06 behind Knibb.

Further back, Løvseth, Matthews, Derron and Sanchez had also made up time, but they still faced a gap of nine minutes to Knibb.

By the 43-mile checkpoint, Knibb’s lead was still sizeable, but had been cut to just over five minutes. It was no longer Siffert or Simmonds in second, however, but Pierré. With Nice being a home race for her, she has had plenty of time to train on the bike course.

On Thursday at the pre-race press conference, Pierré said her boyfriend told her “no one” would be able to keep up with her if she rode the course the way she had been in training. Knibb was clearly in a league of her own during the climb on Saturday, but Pierré was the queen of the descent, making up three minutes between miles 28 and 43.

Over the final 10 or so miles of the bike ride, Pierré clawed within another minute of Knibb, but she still found herself 4:24 back as she entered T2. She rode the second-fastest split of the day, covering the trip from T1 to T2 in 2:35:23. Knibb, of course, had the fastest split, riding 2:32:07.

Simmonds and Siffert were around a minute behind Pierré as they hit transition. Fifth place belonged to Løvseth, almost eight full minutes down from Knibb. Matthews made up a bit more time on the remainder of the descent, moving into sixth and also eight minutes behind Knibb.

It was Knibb’s race to lose heading into the half-marathon, but even if she ran away with the win, the fight for the last two spots on the podium was sure to be a fun one.

Knibb’s Amazing Run

Knibb started the run with a lead of 4:42 over Pierré. Further back was Siffert, 5:35 behind, and Simmonds, 5:40 down. Matthews moved into fifth as she started the run, sitting 8:16 off the lead.

Knibb is known for her cycling prowess, but there have been occasions when she has faded on the run course. That was not the case on Saturday, as she not only maintained her lead in the opening stages of the run, but extended it. After a little over three miles of running, the gap between her and Pierré was up to 5:35 — almost a minute more than when they left transition.

Siffert had run clear of Simmonds and had Pierré in her sights, just 30 seconds behind the Frenchwoman. Fifth place belonged to Derron (yet another Swiss athlete in the top five), who was running the fastest on the course. She was no real threat to Knibb, however, as she was still 8:15 behind. It was a different story for the other women in the hunt for the podium, though, and they could not count Derron out of the race.

After making up time in the latter stages of the bike, Matthews couldn’t keep the same pace as the top women, and by the 5K mark, she was close to 10 minutes back of the lead. A little over a mile later, the commentary team informed viewers that she was reportedly planning to “jog it in” to the finish. As the commentators pointed out, Matthews is one of the many women racing both Nice and Kona, so she likely didn’t see the value in pushing 100 percent any longer and hurting her chances on the Big Island in less than a month.

Knibb ran a 10K split of about 36 minutes (the official split on the IRONMAN app is 36:28 at 10.1K). When she passed through that point, she was still far ahead of anyone and everyone. Siffert was 6:22 back after passing Pierré (who was holding onto third) not long before. Absolutely flying on the course, however, was Derron, who was suddenly only 30 seconds from the podium with plenty of race left to run.

In the next mile and a half, Derron passed not only Simmonds, but also Pierré and Siffert. She blew by her compatriot to move into second, and although Siffert tried to stay with her, there was truly nothing she could do other than watch Derron run away. At that point, Derron was running 5:40 per-mile pace — thirty-five seconds per mile faster than Knibb, who was still powering forward in the lead.

After 10 miles of running, Knibb’s lead was down to 5:34. Derron was a full minute over Siffert. One other woman was running as quickly as Derron at that point — Løvseth. She had moved up to fourth place and was about 50 seconds off the podium. She was going to need a massive final 5K split to make it to third, but as she showed in Kona last year, she is capable of some magic on the run course.

In the end, it was Knibb in 4:19:24. She finished the race with a phenomenal 1:17:56 half-marathon. Derron crossed the line in second in 4:23:30, running an amazing 1:13:04 split. Third went to Siffert, who stopped the clock in 4:25:10 to hold off a charging Løvseth, who was fourth 40 seconds back.